Alberta Investment Management Corp Invests $53.97 Million in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,395,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,969,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,397,057,000 after purchasing an additional 8,596,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,652,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $953,311,000 after purchasing an additional 845,218 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after buying an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,795,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,483,000 after buying an additional 155,778 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $495,335,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 1.7%

SW opened at $44.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.17 billion, a PE ratio of 61.36 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $32.73 and a 12-month high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 251.39%.

Smurfit Westrock Company Profile

Smurfit Westrock Plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells containerboard, corrugated containers, and other paper-based packaging products in Ireland and internationally. The company produces containerboard that it converts into corrugated containers or sells to third parties, as well as produces other types of paper, such as consumer packaging board, sack paper, graphic paper, solid board and graphic board, and other paper-based packaging products, such as consumer packaging, solid board packaging, paper sacks, and other packaging products, including bag-in-box.